Domestic appliance



June 19,1945. R. R. CANDOR 2,378 392 DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed Oct. 28, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H ll :NVENTOR. W344 ATTORNEYS Patented June 19, 1945 DOMESTIO APPLIANCE Robert R. Candor, Oakwood, Ohio, asslgnor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a

corporation of Delaware Application October 28, 1940, Serial No. 363,086

V plain agitator in a washing machine.

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a domestic appliance and more particularly to washing machines.

In the past it has been customary to use a A plain machine.

ing machine.

In the drawings:

3-3 of Fig. 2.

agitator.

is set up by the agitator.

stroke of the agitator.

munication between vided through the casting 22 which provide passages of greater number and area between the inner and outer tub members. These inner and outer tub members are fastened and sealed at their lower edges to the casting 22 by the screws The inner end of the passages 30 are covered In the spinning 28. Water in the surrounding the vertical shaft The shaft 42 The lower end of this cage is agitator, whilesimple, is not very eflicient. This 5 3|.

is due to the fact that the active surface is the by a ring 32 containing the apertures 34 in its same when moving in opposite directions. vertical wall portion.

It is an object of my invention to provide a This arrangement is for the purpose of drying more efficient agitating means for a washing the clothes by spinning the tub and particularly H is so arranged that in so doing the suds will not It is an other object of my invention to provide be deposited upon the clothes. an arrangement which will increase the effective operation the clothes are thrown by centrifugal water moving area on the 'power stroke of the force against the walls of the inner tub member agitator and which will reduce the drag on the 24 and cover the apertures return stroke of the agitator. outer member 26 is thrown over its flanged edge It is another object of my invention to proby the centrifugal force and this causes water vide means for preventing clothes from catchto be drawn with considerable speed through ing upon or contacting the agitator in a washthe apertures 34 and the passages 3!] adjacent a the bottom of the tub. Since the suds are lighter Further objects and advantages of the present than the water, they will tend to remain closer invention will be apparent from the following deto the center of the tub, and these suds will be scriptiomreference being had to the accompanydrawn from the surface of the water through the ing drawings, wherein a preferred form of the apertures 34 before they will deposit upon the present invention is clearly shown. clothes.

The operating mechanism for the tub is Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through the driven by an electric motor 36 which is condriving and tub elements of a washing machine nected through a coupling 38 to clutch 66 proembodying one form of my invention; viding a connection to a helical gear (not shown) Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the which meshes with the helical gear 40 mounted tub of a washing machine embodying my imupon a sleeve 44 proved form of agitator; and 42. This vertical shaft 42 is slidably mounted Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken along the line within the sleeve 44 which, in turn, is rotatably mounted within the housing 46.

Briefly, I have shown a washing machine in and the sleeve 44 are slidably connected by the which the agitator is surrounded by a perforated pin and slot connection 45. The upper end of cage for preventing clothes from contacting the the sleeve 44 is provided with a bearing 48 and a The cage is so shaped as to conform ball-type joint 50 which connects to the upto the movement of the water in the tub which wardly extending portion 52 of the tub casting In the second form, 22. The upper end of the shaft 42 extends a similar cage is provided but, in addition, the through the bearing 48 and is rigidly connected agitator is provided with movable blades which to the upper end of the bell-shap it t r 54. are extended upon the downward power stroke In order to prevent clothes from catching upon of the agitator and retracted during the return the bell-shaped agitator 54, I provide a perforated cage 56 which generally conforms to the Referring now to the drawings and more parshape of the agitator 4 t'is spaced sligh ly ticularly to Fig. 1, there is shown the tub 20 of pon all sides.

a washing machine having a casting 22 forming provided with a curled flange 58 which forms a its bott m purtion t whi h is fastened an i r harmonious extension of the curved surface 60 tub member 24 and an outer tub member 26. The Provided in t e a t inner tub member 24 is flared inwardly while The p in 38i connected to h ft provid d the outer tub member 26 is flared downwardly. with an agit g clutch 64 and a sp g t h Apertures 28 in the tub member 24 provide com- 66. The agitating clutch clutches the electric the inner and outer tub motor 36 to a pinion 68 which drives a gear 10 members and, in addition, passages 30 are pro- 56 which, in turn, drives a crank pin of a Scotch yoke drive mechanism 12 provided at the lower end of the drive shaft 42. The drive shaft 42 has a rotatable connection with the Scotch yoke drive mechanism I2 so that when the clutch 84 is released and the clutch 86 is engaged, the helical gear which drives the second helical gear 40 can rotate the drive shaft 42 along with the sleeve 44 in order that this drive shaft 42' may rotate the agitator 54 while the sleeve 44 spins the tub 20.

When the clutch 64 is engaged and the clutch 86 is released the shaft 42 will be reciprocated in a vertical direction, thereby causing a toroidalshaped circulation within the inner tub 24. This circulation will approximately follow the outlines of the cage 58 and the curved portions 58 and 60. The cage 58 will prevent the clothes from contacting the agitator 54 and thereby will prevent the clothes from being damaged by contact with the agitator.

In Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown a tub similarly provided with a cage for preventing clothes from contacting the agitator. The agitator has movable blades which are retracted upon the upward or return stroke or the agitator and which are extended upon the downward or power stroke oi the agitator so that the water moving area of the agitator is increased upon the downward stroke while at the same time the drag is reduced upon the upward stroke. I

The agitator is preferably connected to an op-- erating mechanism similar to that shown in Fig. 1 through the medium of a vertical shaft III! sealed by the bellows I I2 to the bottom of the tub H4 which is made substantially like the tub 20. The upper end of the shaft H is provided with a disc lit which is adapted to operate within a cylinder iIB provided within the agitator I20. This arrangement provides a lost motion connection between the shaft H0 and the agitator I20 since the disc IIS may move'freely within the cylinder H8. This st motion between the vertical shaft H8 and the agitator I is employed to operate the movable blades I22 which are arranged radially at the bottom of the agitator I20.

As better shown in Fig. 3, the blades I22 are provided with slots I24 which receive the guide screws I26 for enabling the blades to be moved radially to increase or decrease the eflective area upon the bottom of the agitator I20. The inner edge of each of these blades I22 is provided with a three-pronged extension including 9, prong I 28, each of which is curled to receive the circular tension-type coil spring I30, and a set or prongs I32 provided upon each side of the curled prong I28. These prongs I32 are held in contact with a cone-shaped cam member the vertical operating shaft I I0.

Upon'the upward stroke of the vertical shaft N0, the disc H6 will move from the bottom to I34 which is fixed to portion. This will enable the circular spring I to draw the blades I22 inwardly so as to reduce the area of the bottom of the agitator its and particularly will reduce the outer diameter of the blades I22. This will reduce the drag of the aghtator I20 in its upward movement which will be started only when the disc I I8 reaches the upper end of the cylinder H8 and continues its upward movement. This continued upward movement will raise the agitator I20 until the Scotch yoke drive reaches the top of its stroke.

Upon the downward stroke of the Scotch yoke drive, its inertia will cause the agitator lit to tend the top of the cylinder II8 while the agitator I20 remains substantially stationary. At the same time, the inverted cone-shaped cam I 34 will move upwardly with the disc III? and the prongs I32 will remain substantially stationary so that with respect to the cone-shaped cam l 34 they will move from the large portion oi the cam tothe small to remain in its uppermost position. This will cause the shaft I I0 to lead the agitator its on its downward stroke so that the disc IIB will move from the top to the bottom of the cylinder I is. This lost motion movement of the shaft lit with respect to the agitator I20 will cause a relative movement between the inverted cone-shaped cam I34 and the radial blades I22 so that the blades .are cammed outwardly by the relative downward movement of the cam. I84. Thus, before the agitator 528 begins to move downwardly these blades i22 are projected radially at its lower edges in order to present larger and more efiective water moving area on the downward or power stroke of the shaft I I c.

Thus, these blades operate as a paddle which is extended only upon the downward movement of the agitator. This provides a much more emcient and efiective mechanism for moving the water in the tub and thus provides better washing conditions. The cage I36 which surrounds the agitator prevents any contact of the clothes with the agitator.

In order to spin the tub ill after the clothes are washed, the bottom of the tub is connected to the flange I38 which is provided at the upper and of a sleeve corresponding to the sleeve M of the drive mechanism shown in Fig. 1. In this way, the clothes may be spun dry without the deposit of suds thereon, as explained in connection with Fig. 1.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claim which follows.

What is claimed is as follows:

In a washing machine, a, liquid holding receptacle, an agitator within the receptacle, an oscillating means for oscillating the agitator, alost motion connection between said oscillating means and said agitator, said agitator being provided with movable projecting means for increasing and decreasing its size, and means responsive to the relative lost motion movement between the agitator and the oscillating means for moving said projecting means to increase the size of the agitator in one interval of its movement and for moving said projecting means to decrease the size of the agitator during another interval 01' its movement.

ROBERT R; CANDOR. v 

